This post deserves a bump. As noted, the link goes to the actual ruling in the case under discussion. Well worth a read for anyone interested in the issues raised by the OP.
Whoah… slow down… I think we should get GEEPERS to confirm that first … 
What I find interesting about that case is that, ultimately, the school board and community were hoist on their own petard. The plaintiff complained that “she experienced feelings of exclusion and ostracism” and the school and community responded by openly excluding and ostracizing her. The Lemon test requires that the government (the school in this case) “avoid excessive entanglement with religion.” And they responded thusly:
In short, they proved her case far better than she could ever have.
Well, I’ll applaud this, even if no-one else will.
But… but they can’t have done that ! The mural doesn’t promote a specific religion !
It doesn’t count - they’re “not true Christians”.
Wow, quoting directly from the Agenda. I never figured you to be a fellow subscriber to the Atheist Newsletter.
My moral compass is just fine, thanks. I don’t need a bible thumper telling me what’s right, and what’s wrong based on two thousand year old anonymous writings. I don’t need the threat of eternal damnation to be a decent human being.
You do also know, of course, that teen suicide rates (ages 10-24) have been declining over the last 20 years, and are significantly lower than the non-teen suicide rate.
Maybe you’re thinking about the high suicide rate for LGBT teens. Although, since they’re filthy sinning homosexuals, they probably don’t deserve the Christian Compassion™ that might make their lives a bit more tolerable.
I live in Rhode Island and am, in fact, acquainted with Jessica Alquist’s mother. I know that some of the facts in the case are not as they were represented but because of privacy issues, I will not go into them. I’ve argued this case back and forth on Facebook and elsewhere with people who come across as nothing more than functional idiots and pretty ignorant about the constitution and supreme court precedent.
My conclusion? They prefer their ignorance and religious high-mindedness to what the law actually says. You’re not going to change their minds.
The banner actually came down a couple of months ago. But a profound thing has happened since then.
That is: no one’s right to worship as they please has been curtailed.
No one has been arrested for preaching what they believe. No one has been arrested for praying in public. No one has been arrested for attending church as they wish.
In point of fact, no one lost any rights that they didn’t have in the first place.
Things have gone along pretty much as they always have here in Rhode Island with the banner down. Crime rates have stayed steady, church attendance hasn’t dropped off, and there hasn’t been the upsurge in immorality that the banner supporters would have expected once the banner came down.
On the other hand, we are on the hook for 75 million dollars from Curt Schilling’s failed 38 Studios, so maybe God does hate us after all.
if you happen to speak to them, please pass on to Jessica that “we” are behind her efforts and are impressed by what she has accomplished! (only word it more eloquently)
YMMV, but the thing that relaxes me and makes my anxiety lessened is forbidden by the Federales even when my state says it is ok. Are you a member of NORML? Ain’t seen you at the meetings.
[QUOTE=GEEPERS]
As for ancient ignorant people, the Jews have become perhaps the world’s most influencial race, defying the odds, surviving genocide and becoming a nation again.
[/QUOTE]
The Jews are special because they survived genocide? What about all the Jews who didn’t survive it?
They weren’t real Jews. Duh.
In spite of the fact that we own Wall Street and Hollywood and use the Black man as muscle in forwarding our Zionist agenda, I would hardly say Israel is the geopolitical center of the world.
We are talking about metaphorical Jews here, those who exist only to fulfill a Christian prophesy, and not actual members of the tribe. I suspect that many of the pro-Israel end time boosters would be sorely disappointed if they found that most Jews are practicably indistinguishable from “normal” folk in day-to-day life.
Except for that whole “controllng the world’s financial makets” thing, of course.
I tell him God is punishing him for something he did.
I think the point you are missing in all this is that you are certainly entitled to believe your beliefs. It’s that those of us who don’t share in them don’t want to be subjected to them.
Much like the Cranston School Committee in Gyrate’s post, your entire focus is convincing us on how strong your beliefs are. And the fact is those of us who are not Christian simply don’t care. We don’t share in your beliefs or care whether our “moral compass” meets your standards is irrelevant.
Wouldn’t it be more correct to say they’re not true officials of a public school board ? 
I have decided to accept that I am no True Christian ™, as so many knowledgeable experts have told me so for so long.
I will still attend the same church and services, but knowing for sure that I am damned takes a lot of pressure off my soul.
You posted this long after folks pointed out that all of the “moral compass” stuff on the banner would’ve been unobjectionable if they’d left out the “heavenly father” and “amen” brackets around it; why not just champion “respect and compassion” without those brackets?
Well you see a GEEPERS’ Christian is a moral cripple unable to function in a humane manner without divine help.
God save us all from those.